A video clip in which Shinde is purportedly seen urinating by roadside surfaced on social media on Sunday.

The incident took place on a stretch on the Solapur-Barshi road when the minister was travelling in his car.

Talking to news agency PTI, Shinde said that he urinated in the open as he was feeling ill after spending nearly a month touring the state for the government's flagship Jalyukta Shivar scheme.

"I have been travelling continuously for the last one month taking a review of the Jalyukta Shivar scheme. Continuous travelling in high temperatures and dust made me ill. I was suffering from fever today (Sunday) and when I couldn't find a toilet while travelling, I had to relieve myself in the open," Shinde said yesterday.

However, the opposition Nationalist Congress Party said the minister not finding a toilet on a highway shows that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swacch Bharat Abhiyan has failed.

"It is now proved that the government has been looting people in the name of Swacch Bharat cess on petrol and diesel," NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said.

"How can the Prime Minister expect people to follow discipline when his own ministers are a bunch of undisciplined people? If the minister did not find a toilet on a highway, it means the government has all along been looting people in the name of Swacch Bharat cess on fuel. The minister has proved that the whole scheme is nothing but a big failure," Malik said.

THIS Maharashtra minister pees by roadside; his video goes viralDescription:Maharashtra Water Conservation Minister Ram Shinde said that he urinated in the open as he was feeling ill after spending nearly a month touring the state.Times Now